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Beacon, NY… Dutchess County Executive Marcus J. Molinaro and City of Beacon Mayor Randy Casale announced a new local bus service route in Beacon that will connect Metro North’s Beacon Train Station and DIA: Beacon with the Main Street area of Beacon. The new local service will begin on Saturday, November 24th, 2012 and will run Monday through Saturday from 12:00pm to 7:00pm.

County Executive Molinaro said, “We are so excited to partner with Mayor Randy Casale to bring this enhanced public transit service to Beacon. Beacon serves as a ‘tourism gateway’ to Dutchess County and each week thousands of visitors utilize Metro-North trains to come from all over the world and visit destinations such as DIA:Beacon. This partnership between the City and the County to provide long desired bus service helps harness the economic benefit those visitors bring by connecting them with the diverse and thriving business and arts community along Main Street in Beacon. This bus link is also an important resource for local residents connecting them within their own community. This kind of collaboration not only defines how we meet the needs of our residents, it is exactly how we will grow our local economy - supporting our city centers and local small businesses."

This new route will provide an important connection from the Metro North train station and DIA:Beacon to the Main Street business area of Beacon. According to Daniel O’Connell, Director of Operations Planning and Analysis for MTA Metro-North Railroad, the Beacon Train Station has grown tremendously over the years, with weekday ridership increasing 60% on weekdays and more than doubling on weekends, with more than 3,000 inbound trips on Saturdays.

Thousands of visitors utilize Metro- North train service to visit the world renowned DIA:BEACON art museum each month. A Metro-North travel package that includes round-trip train fare and admission to DIA: BEACON generated 17,000 rides in 2011. This new bus route service will allow those visitors to incorporate Beacon’s Main Street area into their trip.

City of Beacon Mayor Randy Casale said, “This new service is very important to our Beacon business community, our Arts community, our seniors as well as our young people. We are grateful to County Executive Molinaro and Dutchess County Public Transit for working together in partnership to make this service a reality. It provides important connections for both our visitors and our residents and lets everyone know that Beacon is OPEN for business!”

The new route will have twenty stops including the Beacon train station, DIA:Beacon, Wolcott Avenue, the Beacon Theater and Forrestal Heights residential complex. There will be numerous stops along the Main Street corridor, connecting passengers to the numerous local businesses that line Main Street. The thirty minute route will be run twelve times per day starting at 12pm and ending at 7pm. General fare cost is $1.75. Veterans, seniors and students pay $.75.

The new route will also be an important service for Beacon’s local residents, allowing greater accessibility to shops and businesses along Main Street. The new route will also serve as connector to the LOOP’s F Route which goes east to Route 9, Fishkill and Route B which goes north to Poughkeepsie.